Princeton dentist indicted in case of wife's death

WORCESTER -- A Princeton dentist was indicted Friday on charges of manslaughter and assault in the death of his wife two years ago.

The body of 65-year-old Kathleen Desilets was found on the ground beneath a broken third-floor window at the couple's home in Princeton on Dec. 6, 2011.

Roger Desilets Jr., 69, who has offices in both Worcester and Fitchburg, was indicted Friday by a Worcester County Grand Jury.

Desilets told police who responded to his 911 call that he and his wife argued and she threatened to jump from a window. Desilets told investigators he found her smashing the window with a chair, and that she then fell through it.

Desilets was found severely injured on her lawn beneath a broken third floor window at 2:45 a.m. that day. She was taken to the UMass-Memorial Medical Center University Campus, where she was pronounced dead.

Desilets' lawyer, Edward Ryan Jr., said Friday his client "had absolutely no role" in his wife's death and called the indictment another tragedy. He said Desilets will be vindicated.

Desilets will be arraigned Jan. 2 in Worcester Superior Court.

Court records released in August revealed that Kathleen Desilets had argued with her husband earlier that night about an extramarital affair he had. The documents also show the couple may have had a physical altercation just prior to her death.

Kathleen Desilets was still alive when police arrived on the scene, but was having difficulty breathing and was unable to move or speak.

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Police noted she was lying on her stomach and was unclothed but covered in blankets, with only her head visible. She stopped breathing a short time later.

At first, Roger Desilets refused to tell police what he and his wife were arguing about, but later at the hospital, he told state police investigators their marriage had been suffering stress due to an affair he'd had, which has "resulted in jealousy and insecurity on the part of his wife."

He told police the argument had begun when she found a copy of her phone contact list in his briefcase, which he'd obtained after she insinuated she may also be having an affair. Desilets told police the argument escalated into a physical altercation in which she struck him. He said they then made up, had sexual intercourse, and then argued again.

"At this time, he stated, his wife put on a robe and went upstairs to another bedroom. After hearing noises, he went upstairs to find his wife smashing out the window with a chair," the search warrant affidavit states. "He then stated his wife went through the window, possibly intentionally or due to her momentum caused by the action of breaking the window."

Desilets said he then called 911 and had not touched or tried to move his wife except for taking her pulse. He told police she had no history of mental illness or suicide attempts and was not intoxicated.

When police asked Desilets about the cut and dried blood above his right eye and a scratch on the right side of his neck, he told them it was due to the earlier physical altercation. The document shows that around 4 a.m., Desilets contacted a trooper in the Sturbridge state police barracks via text message, asking him to call him so they could discuss "a disaster of unbelievable proportions."

UMass Medical Center's Dr. Anthony Montoya noted Kathleen Desilets had suffered a large hematoma on the back of her head and many bruises on her arms and legs, which were described as being in "various stages of healing."

He also noted "bruising on the anterior of both upper arms with what appears to be finger marks on the right arm." Montoya said there was no evidence of glass in her hair or on her body, and she did not show any scratches or cuts.

A death certificate for Kathleen Desilets shows she died of "blunt trauma of the torso with lacerations of the heart and fractures of the ribs and the spine."

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